Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to a system including a front-loading or front-installing syringe for use with a fluid injector and, further, to a connection interface for securing a syringe plunger to a piston of the fluid injector and to a method for engaging and disengaging the syringe plunger to and from the piston of the fluid injector.
Description of Related Art
In many medical diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, a medical practitioner, such as a physician, injects a patient with one or more medical fluids. In recent years, a number of injector-actuated syringes and fluid injectors for pressurized injection of fluids, such as a contrast solution (often referred to simply as “contrast”), a flushing agent, such as saline, and other medical fluids have been developed for use in procedures such as angiography, computed tomography (CT), ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), nuclear medicine, positron emission tomography (PET), and other imaging procedures. In general, these fluid injectors are designed to deliver a preset amount of fluid at a preset flow rate.
Various connection interfaces have been developed to facilitate the engagement of a syringe plunger to and from a piston of the fluid injector. In some aspects, the syringe having a retention feature is inserted into a syringe port on the fluid injector by aligning the syringe with a corresponding locking feature provided on the fluid injector. Such alignment also aligns the plunger in the syringe with the piston on the fluid injector such that the piston can engage the plunger and drive the plunger through the syringe barrel to draw fluid into the syringe barrel or deliver fluid from the syringe barrel. In other aspects, upon initial engagement with the plunger, the piston may be rotated, in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction, until the piston engages a catch on the plunger. In further aspects, the piston has one or more radially-extendable pins that engage a lip on the plunger.
Many of the existing connection interfaces have construction that requires a complex piston head with various sensor elements and active engagement structures. There is a need in the art for an improved connection interface that allows for a simpler and easier engagement and disengagement of the syringe plunger to and from the piston of the fluid injector. There is a further need in the art for reducing or eliminating the need for the operator to rotationally align the syringe with the fluid injector to allow for a proper engagement of the syringe plunger with the piston of the fluid injector. There is a further need in the art for reducing the angle of rotation through which the operator rotates the syringe to release the syringe plunger from the piston for removal of the syringe. While various syringe plunger connection interfaces and methods are known in the medical field, improved connection interfaces between the syringe plunger and the piston of the fluid injector and methods for engaging and disengaging the syringe plunger to and from the piston of the fluid injector continue to be in demand.